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Topic: Van De Graaff Generator (Read 3251 times)

Has anybody ever hooked up a Van De Graaff generator up to a hive and monitored for a change in the mite drop count? Van De Graaff generators are electro static generators that you’ll often see at science museums. They are the metal sphere shaped things where the kids’ touch it and their hair stands on end.

What would happen to mites on a bee if a bee was exposed to an electro static build up? If the mite picked up electrons and the bee was also covered with electrons, then you would have an electrostatic repulsion between the mites and the bees. This would be the same “force” of repulsion that makes a kids hair stand on end.

It's been a few years since my college physics class, so bear with me if my science isn't "up to par."

But if you are claiming that a Van De Graaff generator would repel the mites from the bees, wouldn't it also (at least to some degree) repel the bees from each other? or repel them from the comb? or repel the eggs from the cells?

An interesting thought. Not very practical, even if it did work (which I don't think it would), as each hive's price would go up in price 20 fold. But hey, if you've got a spare hive, and extra cash to front the electricity bill, it would be fun to try out.

Objects of the same charge repel, objects with opposite charges attract. So if the bees and mites all get a net negative charge, there should be repulsion between everything in the hive just as you suggest. However the amount of repulsion force is not super strong in this case.

Case in point, when a kid at the science museum places their hand on an electro static generator, the force is strong enough to stand their hair on end, but not pull the hair out of their head. Thank goodness!

I would expect a similar thing might occur in a bee hive. I would think there would be a force of repulsion between the bees and the comb and the mites. However the bees are relatively large strong creatures whereas the mites are less so. Maybe the forces of repulsion are strong enough to send the mites flying off the bees while the bees are still able to cling to the comb?

I’m speculating here again! Like I said, I’m just wondering if any other beeks have tried such an experiment before? As for the cost, if it did work(?), you might just need to buy one Van De Graaff generator that would be powered from your truck battery and attach it to each hive for a couple of minutes? I would see no good reason to install a Generator in year hive. (BTW..Van De Graaffs consume very little electricity..unless you're doing lightning experiments)

I do have a Van De Graff generator in the basement. If none of ya’ll have tried this yet, I suppose I could dust it off and give it a try one of these days :)

Precise measurement of the electrical charges carried by honey bee workers allows one to investigate the role of this abiotic factor in bee contamination by the ectoparasitic mite Varroa jacobsoni. A metallic cylinder charged with four different intensities (chosen in the range measured on living bees) of either positive or negative sign was used as a lure. The mite's movements in the vicinity of the cylinder was videotaped and subsequently digitized. Spatial and temporal dimensions of the paths were computed by a specially designed analysis programme. The frequency and nature of the contacts with the lure were also noted.

A two-way ANOVA indicated no significant differences in the characteristics of the paths between charges of different intensities. However, the charge sign was found to influence the following characteristics: immobility, velocity, turning angle standard deviation and sinuosity. In addition, the frequency with which the mite contacted and climbed on the cylinder was higher in the case of negative charge. We suggest that the mites are not merely passively attracted towards the lure by the action of electrical forces. Rather, the detection of charges triggers a change in the movements of the animal which increases the probability to contact its host.

Unfortunately I don’t have mites this summer :( Seems like the mites haven’t had a good year here in Michigan. Michigan State University researchers were paying a premium and willing to drive half way across the state if anybody had a really infested hive to sell this summer.

As for my bee yard, I was changing around my brood configurations this summer and that resulted in some brood breaks which may have stymied the varroa. Maybe next year I’ll be lucky and have more varroa to play with :) :(

I'll have to defer this experiment to our friends down under for now :)

The funny looking screen in front of my hive is my attempt at keeping the skunks away from this hive. Half my hives have bottom entrances and half have top entrances. The skunks have pestered all my hives with bottom entrances and the raised screen is to try to discourage the skunks from messing with my bottom entrance hives. It is NOT electrified. The skunks don’t bother my top entrance ones.

You’ll notice in the photo some mud under the entrance and the holes in the dirt. This was the work of a skunk before I put the screen in place.

The screens have helped with my skunk problem for now. Not sure how well they’ll work in the winter when the skunks are more hard up for food.

SMNBee, you are correct. Everything in a bee hive is a pretty good electrical insulator. I did say in the OP this was kind of a crazy idea.

I really don’t know how well (or poorly) static charges might distribute over a bee hive. Static charges move on the skin of an object rather than through the material. This is one of those times when you probably have to plug in the generator to see what really happens.

Human skin is a pretty good insulator too, yet we know static charges move from out socks to our fingers pretty well in the winter time. Clouds are also pretty good at generating their fair share of static electricity even though they’re not conductors.

Honestly I don’t know what might happen when you hook one of these up to a bee hive. That’s half the fun :-D, to see what we can learn. If you observe something interesting, then you modify the experiment a bit and try again.